I'm playing Challenge #4 at the Pajama Party over at Waltzingmouse cuz that "for You" sentiment is from one of the first stamps I purchased from WMS (my first order contained, um a couple sets ;) - Around Christmastime. I love Claire's sentiments and font choices.

TIP: for those of you trying to get published, I asked for critique on the above tag and was told that the fibers were a bit dated. OK. Me still likey. But keep that in mind on your projects for submission.

Next up, remember the multi-layering of tissue paper, stitched down the middle? Well I made this tag based on this tag- my tribute to Dr. Seuss and the Grinch - inspired by this tag by Ellen H.

Teensy, tiny little things but full of so much goodness. They make me smile when I look at them. Hope you likey.

Friday, August 30, 2013

It's the Desert Diva's birthday today and here's a hug with a fold going out to her. Happy Birthday,

Hannelie

und alles Gute für das nächste Jahr! If you don't know her work, you should. Clean and crisp and bold cards and awesome sentiments which she creates herself and is kind enough to share. Thanks, Hannelie! So I grabbed me one and put it to use.

Some big, bold and graphic 12x12 cut to 6x6 PP, a super cool sentiment from Hannelie and a girly sticker -which I got in a fun prize package of American Crafts goodies from Paper Crafts - to keep it cheery.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

I know lots of you have already met Delicata gold ink. I have now too (more NBUS). Wunnerful schtuff eh?

Also NBUS (never-before-used-schtuff - in my case ordered in the US, delivered to my folks', picked up by me during summer holiday there and lugged home in my suitcase. Or DH's. Or DS's. Or DD's. Get the picture?) was the Bright Days stamp set from Avery Elle. Love the quality of those stamps. Here's what I did with the two NBUSes.

My middle initial is "L". Stands for "liberties". As in I take a lot of liberties with sketches. But the elements are there. I just chose to do it all with the one stamp set. And Delicata - muy bonita. But a poop to photograph.

Swiped Salty Ocean (how appropriate - oh it came home in the suitcase too now that I think of it) for the water. Masked the water and stamped the center of the sun. Masked the center and stamped the rays, some yellow and some gold. Stamped over the center with that oh-so-cool sunburst in gold. Masked the strip on my cardbase and stamped with more gold using only the sunburst stamp. That's all folks.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Finally getting around to joining the fun over at Jackie R.'s Pantone Fashion Colors for Spring 2013 to use the Pantone Spring 2013 colors as card inspiration. I'm starting with the current color which is "linen". And a true challenge for me. Linen = vintage.

Well, I also checked out the current CASE this Sketch #42 and the moment I saw the speech bubble in the sketch I decided to take linen modern.

Some textured CS, some Momenta PPs in various tones of linen (what color is linen actually - my first thought was "kraft"...) which were part of a prize package from the lovely Laurel S., and a wood veneer speech bubble from Freckled Fawn. Linen goes modern.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Bringing up the rear on the parade of Stamp-a-faire creations are two fun cards.

First up, ready for this? "Scent-sational." Check out the stamp set Papertrey is releasing in September - perfect for making scratch-n-sniff cards. Don't have it, but not to fear. My biggest problem was deciding if I wanted to rip open a pack of jello for a strawberry or go with cinammon for a pumpkin or ginger for a gingerbread man - cuz I have those stamps in solid which is what ya need to make this technique work.

Then I thought "hey, the more (scent) the merrier", so I created a big table and embossed it with a mix of coffee and clear embossing powder (ratio 1:2)! I'm a one-cup-a-day gal unless it's hazelnut flavored (nod to Mom). Don't know why Germany hasn't caught on to flavored coffee yet. They're all over hazelnuts (nod to Nutella). Anyhoo, give this tabletop a scratch . Catch that fresh-brewed aroma?!?

I used the strip stamps from Neat and Tangled (more NBUS) for my table creation. I'm sharing this over at the Birthday Bash at Little Tangles cuz adding scent to your heat embossing is such a fun idea.

And finally, "Custom Accents from the Oven". That's fancy talk for shrinky dinks. And the challenge I feared most. But alas, if I had just watched the videos from the getgo... Ashley C. N. does a fabby job of showing how dang easy it is. And ya know that Paper Smooches crazy scientist/prof stamp, ya feel like him when you're doin' it too ;)

I die cut the shrink plastic ornaments, filed the edges, punched a 1/8" hole, stamped with StazOn , hit with the heat gun and flattened with an acrylic block before they cooled completely. Voila - a floating tree (I notice that now)! But it's got mega cool ornaments on it!

More PTI Stamp-a-faire fun. First up "Tea Staining". Well, we had coffee for breakfast so I went with coffee and some already stamped sentiments from this project. Conclusion: coffee doesn't work as well as tea probably would... but it smells nicer.

Second it's "Sweet Sugar-Coated Embellishments". In addition to the glitter all over my craft room floor, there's a sweet load of the stuff on my die cut. Added Score Tape to CS before die cutting the word, stuck the die cut to scrap paper with temporary adhesive, dumped the glitter on and burnished with my finger, un-stuck it from the scrap paper and that jerky motion sent that ultrafine glitter flying all over ;( But the card looks sweet ;) I was inspired by the lovely Danielle F. who 1) rocked the metallic papers from Pink Paislee last year enabling me and 2) made a beautiful card for the Faire using the same die.

After that came "A Sprinkle of Salt". So happy to use this NBUS sentiment that I had been wanting for so long. Seems I often have occasion to use a sentiment about a rainbow. Rainbows make me happy... But the salt didn't have any great effect other than to leave a few splotches. Have to try this another time.

And then the "Limited Ingredients". Loved this - both cuz you have a very limited list of supplies which you are allowed to use (makes you don your thinking cap) and cuz I love this card that happened! Totally inspired by Nichole's white polka dots stamped onto the aqua CS. Never would have thought of that one myself, but what interest it adds. I chose to go a different route than most of the others with flower cards.

And then we have my mess. Craft room = laundry room and DD preparing for a class trip meant laundry. As well as the bags of pellets and hay for the rabbits who are still living in the basement (not loving each other yet, but slowly getting there :) Add to that the usual ol' mess of Maria when cardmaking. You may not want to look - it's scary. And I ain't done yet!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

As if Stamp-a-faire weren't enough? Ya'll got cards made for the Papertrey August blog hop too?!?!? You rock. I was actually hitting the website again to check out more Faire challenges and I saw this. Yummy. And what a great sketch.

Took a couple liberties (sentiment replacing a stripe)...

and also applied the Gallon (lemon although you can't tell from the photo), Quart (moss ), Pint (poppy) rule for this challenge. The kraft birdie brings in the last color from the color swatch and since he's neutral he doesn't ruin the GQP! Good little guy! Of course the sentiment continues on the inside (it's your birthday!) with another little stamped birdie for good measure.

Note: All of you perfect-stripe-stampers out there - you rock! It's tricky getting these XXL PTI stripes (NBUS) straight. And evenly inked ;)

Well an idea was circulating in my cabeza and with the deadline approaching I finally got down to it. It morphed a couple times but this is what I came up with.

Flower stamps from all over the place, pigment and dye and chalk inks, and a NBUS edge die. Used a sentiment stamp from Simon Says Stamp on the inside. It reads "you are absolutely delightful". I likey.

Back to Stamp-a-faire-ing. Not enough hours in the day. Or enough daylight. Maybe I should have skipped the soccer game yesterday... but then I would have missed seeing Mainz 05 stomp on Wolfsburg ;) Fourth in the chart. Yep, yep.

Next stop for me at the Papertrey Stamp-a-faire is the "Rolled Dough" technique. Now, I don't have the product that the DT used (a paper-based clay - how cool is that - wonder if it's less weighty than normal clay?) If I did have it I would definitely try my hand at a frame, but that'll have to wait. Hmmm, reminds me of the toilet paper embellishments I made a while back. 'member?

Well, what I do have is a string of beads that DD and a girlfriend made from Fimo clay a few years back. Saw them hanging there on the hook in my craft room and thought I'd put a couple to use. See, it's a good thing I saved them. Well... you be the judge of that.

I actually picked up the beads and this sketch recipe from the Faire

and then tweaked a little here and there. This is what happened.

Hoping I can convince DD to give this card to one of her girlfriend's cuz this one is definitely not fitting into an envelope!

Totally inspired by Nichole H.'s card for the "Mist Mixing." Don't have PTI re-inkers so used Distress with water and a bit of Perfect Pearls for shimmer. And then had to help out with a bit of Dylusions yellow cuz DI Broken China doesn't really "go with" my turquoise Zing. This is what happened.

Chalking this up to 'sperience. Besides the difference in blues (the whole point of this stop at the Faire was to create mists that match your PTI stash - yep) the stamped bloom is too delicate for that PP. Sentiment is lost, even with the washi pointing to it.

Off for more. "Sprinkle of Salt." "Gallon/Quart/Pint." All sound good to me. Are you playing at the Faire too?

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Promised to show you the card I was working on when yesterday's card was born. Well, I was using square dies - cutting squares and then cutting the squares into frames by using smaller squares to cut out the centers. Then I was cutting the frames in half diagonally to make oversized chevrons. Confused? You should be.

Have a look.

A Christmas tree. A whimsical one. I really like the sentiment die cut from vellum (like I used on this card) but I figure it's kinda hard to see in photos. So for this card (for a submission) I decided to ink up a portion of the backside of the sentiment. Still hard to see I guess. But it is whimsical, trust me ;)

Friday, August 23, 2013

If you're still contemplating submitting cards for publication calls, here's another reason to just do it. When challenges roll around as the various holidays actually approach, you've got a stash of non-published cards to choose from. Practical, eh?

May I introduce you to today's card which came about in one of "those moments" - the PP lays on top of another piece of PP and I think "hey, that's cool." And thus a card is born.

Very understated. Except for the big swash of gold paint that is. Used StazOn to be sure the sentiment would stamp on the paint. And added a little touch of gold paint to the top of the bow too. Is it clearly a Christmas card to you?

Stay tuned for the card I was working on when the idea for this card was born.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

If you wanna see my card you better scroll. If you wanna know why I've gone missing... I've been at my observation post at the top of the stairs to keep an eye on our rabbits - the one left after this and the new guy we got at the humane society to keep her company. With leather gloves in hand in case I need to intercede...

This is them. We picked up the little guy in the lower corner on the weekend. See the clump of fur on the floor. That's what they do all day. Are they gonna kill each other or eventually get along? S.T.R.E.S.S. That's what we've been dealing with. Talk about taking years off your life.

Well, it should make the issue of potty training this cutie who will join our family in a few weeks C.A.K.E.

So, "bon voyage" you wonder? Well, I'm certainly hoping we won't be bon-voyaging Mr. Rabbit. If Miss Rabbit knows what's good for her she will accept him. I'm certainly not going through this "socializing rabbits" stuff again. But a friend's daughter is off for a year of volunteering in Ghana so I snuck into my laundry room to create this.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Do you know Clearly Besotted Stamps? The lovely Stephanie keeps coming up with the most beautiful stamps. And recently she started a challenge. This time it's a color challenge and I'm playing along.

Saw those colors and thought "sweet". Which reminded me of a wedding set that Stephanie included with my somewhat large order a while back. How sweet is that? A wedding cake is sweet, right? Then I remembered that the challenge at A Passion for Papertrey is also all about sweet. But how to make the combo work??? NBUS here too (are ya listening Darnell?)

You know that I'm practicalfrugal cheap, right? Here's more proof. I got the PTI mini blooms die (not the stamps mind you) thinking I could use them with lots of those little filler stamps from other stamp sets. Flowers, leaves, whatevers. Well I did! I combined that one little die - see it alone in the plastic bag - with the teensy rose stamp from CBS. And not just as filler either. The roses take the cake on this card. See, they even got stickled :)

Not totally the vision I had in my cabeza, but it'll work for a wedding couple. I did manage to keep the light and airy feel of the inspiration photo so I'm happy.

Friday, August 16, 2013

for both of them. I just love the whimsical nature of N&T stamps and I would love to become good at creating a card in 10 minutes. So with a (nearly) perfect plan in hand I set off to create a birthday card. In ten minutes. Or less. The idea? I couldn't help myself but when I saw the great free digi stamp at N&T all I could think of was the supposed "Let them eat cake" from Marie Antoinette. Um, was she even a queen? Oh well. Hold that thought.

The goods.

The card.

The time.

I can't believe I really did it. Just over 9 minutes. Even retying my bow two times. This 10 minute stuff usually kills me. And although I gathered all my stuff (including the already printed out digi stamp, hope that's allowed) I still scrambled when I decided I needed an additional touch of gray (the heart border from my scrap box) and the twine at the top (luckily I knew where to find it.)

OK, so I guess it's really all in the planning. Give it a whirl. And check out all the fun sequin cards over at N&T too. Loads of inspiration.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Couple cards to share with you that use triangles as banners for some easy graduation cards. I had "the sky's the limit" in mind on these...

Little detour here... You know how to hand-cut triangles that are all the same size easily? Flip your PP over and draw yourself a grid like the one on this card.

Let's say you want your triangles 2" high and 1" wide. Draw horizontal lines 2" apart from each other then make marks at 1", 2", 3", etc. along the first line. Then make marks at 1/2", 1 1/2", 2 1/2", etc along the second horizontal line. Then connect the dots and cut along the lines. Get it? Pencil lines are on the reverse so who cares ;)

Joining the Trendy Triangle fun at Moxie Fab World. Didn't know I had such a thang for triangles. Don't remember it being that way in high school math class... And I squeaked a button on the first one, just hope it's CAS enough for CASual Fridays Buttons challenge.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

"Trifecta" from Mama Elephant. Great stamp set. First one of my NBUS (never-been-used-schtuff) haul from the homeland that I cracked open to try out. Cuz it's all about triangles at Moxie Fab and Simon Says Stamp.

Still searching for my mojo... These were created this morning between 9 a.m. when I got up and 10 a.m. when I went to a neighbor's birthday breakfast. A set of tags. Again. Neighbor thought they were pretty cool. I'm hooking up to the Tag It challenge #14 at CAS on Sunday, check it out.

I probably could have gotten a better photo, but I needed the extra two minutes to brush my teeth ;)

It's wine festival time in these here hills so I'll be scarce. Again. Prosit.